Our other bees that live in hives up in the field are quiet, conserving food and energy through the winter. 

Normally in winter on a sunny warmish day the bees will make a "poop run" every few weeks. They make a quick short flight outside to defecate and then hurry right back inside. But these bees are out most every day. The heat from our wood-fired stove keeps the hive warm enough which allows them the energy to have a look around outside whenever the sun's out.

Winter is when the bees will look for and bring home sap from trees which they use to make propolis which is used as "bee glue" to seal up cracks in the hive and to keep it sanitary and healthy inside. 

I planted spring bulbs at the end of our walkway. I imagined how beautiful they will look in springtime, joyous irises in multi-colored bloom, the fragrant waft of scent carrying to the front door.

This is the GIGUNDO squash plant that volunteered in our compost pile two months ago.

And this is the 5-8 lb Italian heirloom squash we're getting about 8-10 a day of. I carry them back to the house in a wheelbarrow.

Now I want you to know, I'm not complaining. They are the sweetest, tenderest squash we've ever grown. We saute them with butter, eat them raw in salad, and Patti suggested we puree them and freeze them to use as a soup base all winter. All good ideas. I will probably come up with more because I think right now we've got about 150 more in some stage of development and more beautiful golden blossoms coming out all the time.

Why so many? Here are the culprits.

Easy to see the first bee on the bottom covered in pollen. Then there's the next bee deeper in, pollinating away. And way down under both of them, there's a third bee. Each of them wearing enough pollen to decorate six more squash blossoms with. Yes, they are doing their job, and lined up to do it with every squash blossom that opens its petals. And that's why we will probably harvest close to a half ton of squash this fall from ONE PLANT.

So come on over. Bring an appetite. I've got squash fritters frying up right now and I'm working on squash cookies. Or maybe a nice little squash gelato. 

What? You can't find your car keys? I can't imagine where they might have gone. You search the kitchen while I dash out to the driveway to see if you dropped them there. Don't come out unless I yell that I found them, okay?

warmly, Jacqueline

Twin fawns in our upper field. They'd been sleeping between the compost beds when I startled them. Notice how well their spots blend them in with the daisies in the field.

If you are one of the rare people who has seen a swarm, count your blessings. You're seeing a miracle of nature.

Swarms are nature's way of increasing hives. Bees create more hives by splitting and moving. When they have everything perfect in the hive -- plenty of brood eggs laid, pollen and honey stored in the comb, the hive neat and busy -- word goes out it's time to move on. Look at this lovely swarm in our upper field.

The departing hive leaves behind food, brood, nurse bees to care for the hatchlings and a few nascent queen eggs, one who will become the new queen of the hive.

About 70% of the hive, including the old queen, leaves in search of a new home. Before they depart, each bee fills her belly with a few days' worth of honey. Swarming bees are at their wooziest, nearly drunk with honey. An elder beekeeper once told me, “They're so full of honey they couldn't bend their fat little bellies to sting if they wanted to.”

True. I've scooped up swarmed bees in my bare hands with nary a cautionary buzz and placed them into a hive box. Once I got the queen inside, the rest of the bees marched in on their own and immediately began creating wax and building comb for tomorrow's nectar.

If you see a swarm clustered somewhere, leave them alone. Everything's fine. The scout bees are looking and the rest of the bees are simply waiting for them to return and tell them where the new home is. It may take a day or two, even three sometimes, but they'll move on soon as the scouts approve the new location. 

Give them wide berth and don't bother them. They only have enough food to last a short while and it's important they don't waste their energy. If you're really lucky, you'll get to see them lift up in a cloud and fly off. When we find them, people like me bring wild swarms home and offer them a new hive which we then take care of organically -- no chemicals for our bees!

Given the rarity of bees these days, you may want to call your friends over to see the swarm before they leave. Who knows how much longer we'll be able to do that?

Waggle dances are the way honeybees tell each other when something really good is happening, like flowers in full bloom or pollen galore. The angle and direction she does the dance tell the rest of the bees where to fly to join in. Kind of like giving an address. She's saying, "When you look at the sun, fly this angle away from it for this long, then look for the flowers."

Miss Amelia and Harmony in the field

This is a video of us getting ready to move the cows from the east pasture up the road to the high field. Miss Amelia loves getting a carrot. Harmony checks Joseph's pockets for more. What sweet girls. Our neighbor Susan came down to pick up some eggs and took the video. 

It's been rainy, no surprise since we're in the Pacific Northwest. Still, we have no complaints because we rarely get snow, which is fine with me. Since we moved our giant beef cows to our friend Vickie's pasture, our pastures are doing better. At least this winter we're not getting our boots pulled off when we walk through mud. 

Evenings are quiet. We bring Missy into the barn, wipe her udder down and set the bucket under her to milk. When we're nearly done we let Harmony in for what's left and that's always a fun time. We love these girls.

Come on over here and see what classes we are teaching on the farm...

The light coming in the bedroom window woke me up. 

From the window we watched the light roll through the orchard ...